Trail Time
This new year blew in a bit of snow on the Gunflint Trail this week. Big fat flakes floated down and settled, creating one of those ridiculously picturesque sparkly landscapes. The recent snow was followed by lower temperatures and sunny skies. The days will seem longer now — our daylight will increase about 40 minutes from now until Feb 1. We really haven’t experienced very cold weather yet this winter. January and February are our coldest months. I’m happy to see the snow and cold finally arrive, like old and sometimes grumpy friends. You’re pleased to see them, and you know you will be tested.
Winter is so much more enjoyable — and bearable — with snow to play in, whether you ski, snowshoe, snowmobile or dogsled. And the last two weeks has seen a lot of skating parties. Lars joined a family last week who skated from Round Lake, hiked over the portage to Tuscarora for some lake trout fishing. It was a 12-mile trip and there were some sore muscles the next day, but if you go by the pictures and smiles they brought back, it was a very successful adventure. Maybe next year I can join them.
Skating the lakes off the Trail is rarely an option, but this year, the snow held off and the cold finally came which made for a week or so of really good wild ice skating. After a recent birthday skating party, some neighbors built a bonfire on Poplar Lake. The wind was steady. I was really happy I was wearing my anorak with a fur ruff around the hood. It makes for a perfectly comfortable micro-climate right around my face. The group of friends and neighbors around the fire watched an animal cross the lake, resulting in a typical Trail conversation that goes like this: “Is that a fox?” “No, it’s a wolf.” “No way —that’s just a dog!” “That is totally a wolf!” etc. After a birthday toast around the roaring fire, we heard a big CCRACK! in the ice. Conversation ceased as everyone took one big step away from the fire in unison. Then the party began once more and we all starting inching back toward the warmth.
Winter sports plus bonfire get-togethers are wonderful ways to enjoy winter. They are part of our winter survival strategies, along with enjoying the comforts of home on a dark day, with candles, warm food, and embracing the quietness.
We know how bears deal with winter. They hibernate, first fattening up so they can last six months or more without eating. Their metabolism slows and not only do they give birth, they nurture their young while hibernating. Scientists are studying bears to try to figure out how humans can survive long space travel.
I’ve been reading about winter survival strategies for many northern animals. Beavers stay awake and active all winter. They store food under the ice by their lodges in the form of green aspen or birch branches. There are usually up to five beavers in their warm lodges during winter, and sometimes muskrats and other small mammals live in there too. But beavers have a special skill — the females disengage their internal clock from a 24-hour day and change their rhythm to a 26- or 28-hour day. It is believed that this happens to be more in sync with their estrous cycle. Look for large bubbles in the ice around a lodge where there’s clear ice. They might by the trapped air bubbles caused when the beaver swims below, staying busy maintaining lodges all winter long.
Meadow voles use an entirely different strategy to prepare for winter. She neither hibernates nor stores food, but loses weight at summer’s end to go into winter leaner. She’ll need less food that way and spend less time outside her underground nest looking for food. She will also share her nest — and her warmth — with other voles in the winter, the only time anyone is allowed in besides her babies.
For me, the dog sled races held on the Trail break up the winter beautifully, but this year we have had one race cancel — the Beargrease — and one rescheduled — the Gunflint Mail Run — now moved to February 10. The Dog Days of Winter dog sled races will be held in March, on a date to be announced. Whatever the race, it’s inspirational to see the enthusiasm these dogs bring to their work and the dedication the mushers show to their animals. For me, nothing beats watching the dogs run almost silently through the dark woods at night. Hope to see you there.
— Marcia Roepke
